Home buyers survey through lender or independant?

Emilymay86

Hi, if I upgrade my survey to a home buyers with the lender, it works out cheaper than getting my own separately but is there any reason getting it done separately would be the better option??

kingstreet

You often have to wait longer for the inspection if you have the lender's surveyor do both. A more experienced surveyor has to do it and the corporate survey firms employed by lenders have fewer of them.

A second view of the property can be a good idea and the cost difference is usually pretty small. Make sure you shop around for your independent surveyor.

An independent surveyor may be more attentive to detail, produce a less "formulaic" report and be more accessible for questions and advice post-inspection.

verulamium

We used an independent surveyor as it was quicker for the bank to do a straight up valuation. The lender's quoted price for doing both wasn't cheap either, and we wanted a surveyor who was working for us, not the bank. So it was a win-win for us.

Road_Hog

Emilymay86 wrote: »

Hi, if I upgrade my survey to a home buyers with the lender, it works out cheaper than getting my own separately but is there any reason getting it done separately would be the better option??

Because the lender's surveyor is useless, he will take over a month to do the survey, he is not working for you, he will give you a report covering his @rse.

pinkteapot

We've just had a separate Homebuyer's report done.

Our valuation survey for Santander cost us £490. Santander would have also done a Homebuyers for an additional £325.

A local surveyor did us a Condition Report for £390. A condition report is a Homebuyers without a valuation figure, making it very slightly cheaper.

Although it cost £65 more than getting this through Santander, I was able to have a good chat with the surveyor beforehand and explain some things we'd noticed that we specifically wanted him to look at, and he'd been recommended to us by other people who had used him.

I think the recommendations were right - he wrote the most detailed Homebuyers I've ever seen. Told us that one of the shower heads needed descaling (I might ask the vendor for £1.99 off the house price for a sachet of Oust). :rotfl:

I'd say get quotes from local surveyors and compare the cost. If getting a separate one is significantly more expensive than upgrading with your lender then it might not be worth it...

Road_Hog

pinkteapot wrote: »

We've just had a separate Homebuyer's report done.

Our valuation survey for Santander cost us £490. Santander would have also done a Homebuyers for an additional £325...

You're lucky, Santander quite often use E.Surv. Not an experience that you want to go through.

pinkteapot

I know that Santander's valuation survey was done by Connells. Our Homebuyers (well, Condition Report) took place the day before and we had the report within 24 hours, so we could review it while the final mortgage decision was being made.

Road_Hog

pinkteapot wrote: »

I know that Santander's valuation survey was done by Connells.

I don't think Connells has their own surveyors. They're owned by Skipton building society and I believe that it is contracted out, they may say they have surveyors, but I'm not sure they're actually employed by them.


Oh look, Connells and E.Surv.


"Posing as a borrower, Mortgage Strategy contacted three surveyors – Colleys, e.surv and Connells – to ask how long it would take to get a homebuyer report and, separately, a less detailed valuation done on a property in SW15, with a mortgage from Halifax.
Connells and e.surv revealed that they were “on hold” in SW15, meaning they were not accepting new instructions."
http://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/news-and-features/latest-news/esurv-recruits-53-surveyors-to-combat-valuation-delays-crisis/1077046.article

pinkteapot

I was amazed in our case - the valuation survey was done just two days after we were approved by Santander's underwriters and it went on to valuation booking. We're not in London though...

kingstreet

Connells does have its own surveyors and stuff often gets panelled to them by Esurv, Colleys and Countrywide.

It's based in Leighton Buzzard.

Tumtitums

I posted the exact same question a few weeks ago. GET AN INDEPENDENT HOMEBUYERS SURVEY FROM A LOCAL SURVEYOR.
The valuation survey from the lender undervalued the property i wanted to purchase however the independent survey did not . As part of the homebuyers survey the surveyor declares that they are independent of the estate agent, seller and lender therefore to me this provides an impartial 2nd opinion. If the lender had done this then the homebuyers survey would not be independent and may be biased towards the lenders policies in addition my lender obviously wasn't using a local surveyor. You should shop around on yellow pages online for a list of people who can do a homebuyers survey in your area and email them as prices will vary widely